Call for Design Team!!

Flourishes is looking for a few good stampers to be part of their design team. We need people who can create some original stamped items, ie cards, journals, ATC's, etc each month, using primarily our products.

Do you have what it takes? Are you a creative person who can meet deadlines? Do you like getting recognition for your work? If you are interested, please e-mail me at nkirk@aol.com for more details!

Please pass this on to all your friends - we'd like to hear from all of you!!

Another RAK!!

I received this pretty RAK from Deb Albright over the weekend. I love the polished stone technique she used for the front - the photo does not do it justice. Thanks Deb for thinking of me. Check out Deb's great blog at http://turtlechronicles.blogspot.com

Back from Stampfest!!

Wood mounted stamps , unmounted stamps, clear stamps paper, ink, glitter, glue, and what else?? Stampfest was wonderful - my first time there. This morning I was going through my purchases and mounting the rubber to cling foam when I felt the need to take a break. I love conventions for all the new things you get to see. My hands down favorite were the stamps and samples from KT Designs. The coloring on her samples is incredible. The photos I took just don't do justice to her work. See her work at www.ktdesignsonline.com . She showed us how she blends her Tombow markers (she also uses SU markers) and says Marl paper works best for her techniques. I can't wait to try this out for myself...

RAK

I received another RAK in the mail today, this one from Janine Tinklenberg. I love both Palm Trees and Flamingos (how did you know??) and Janine made this very cute card with the wonderful Tickled Pink set. Thanks Janine!!

Please visit Janine's great blog at www.stampspaperscissors.typepad.com

SWAPS!!!!

Each month when our stamping group gets together, we have a swap based on a technique we did the previous month, or something we just wanted to create. I've received some wonderful cards over time from these swaps and thought I should post them. Here are the four from this month - they are just wonderful!!

The upper left card from Sharon uses the polished stone technique. This card is stunning with its multiple layers and color scheme of gold, puple and green.

Next is an adorable card from Missy, who used one of my favorite background stamps - On the Spot. Her color combinations of blue, pink and green are nice and fresh. She finished it off by adding a little glitter to the left portion of the heart.

Cindy's frog card is just sooooo cute!! This little guy is great by himself, but Cindy added those little bug eyes - this card just makes me smile!! I don't have any cute images, but whenever I receive a card like this I see how nice a card can look with just one stamp.

FInally, Jan's card combines a fold over card with a recent SCS challenge. She uses the new Baroque set and combines it with a flower from Stampendous. I love the elegance of this card and the blue and rose color combinations are so pretty.

Thanks ladies, for these great cards!!

ATC for Stampfest

Here is the ATC I made to swap at the Stampfest Convention later this month. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, primarily because I used leftover paper from some wedding invitations I made last year. I've been holding on to the scraps thinking they would come in handy one day, and that day is today!!

I started with beautiful blue metallic paper from Michaels. I stamped the diamond pattern (See D's stamps) with Palette's glue pad and applied white Pearl Ex on top. The swirly flowers (Autumn Leaves) are stamped in brilliant blue. "Love" is from the new, soon to be released set from Flourishes, also stamped in brilliant blue. The hearts are sizzix die cuts, the smaller one was embossed with the Cuttlebug tapestry folder and then applied with Pearl ex to give it some shimmer. Although the photo does not show it the ATC has a nice pearly shimmer to it!

Card Swap

At last months stamp meeting we did a card that had a fold over top (can't remember the exact name of this techniqe). Our swaps are to make a card based on whatever techniques we did the previous month. Here is my version on the fold over card. I used Buckaroo blue and SU decorative paper. The blue is cuttlebug embossed. I used SU's Riveting stamp set in brilliant blue on sage cardstock then used my various sizzix die cuts to mount the image on the nested circles.

SCS Bloggers RAK's

Wow!! In the mail yesterday I received two great RAK's from fellow SCS Bloggers...This first one is from Nancy Elrick of Calgary - I love the pink and black color scheme and have always loved the circle stamps...Nancy - thank you so much for this card!

The second card is from Amanda Sewell from Arizona. Amanda - how did you know that I LOVE the Bella's...and SHOES!! Your color combinations are just great on this cards. Thank you so very much!!

Please check out Amanda's blog www.inkspirations.blogspot.com and Nancy's blog www.nancyscreativemess.blogspot.com for some more of their wonderful creations!

Wedding Invitation

With wedding season upon us, many crafters are looking for ideas for wedding invitations. I thought I would post what I created for a relative's wedding last year. I started with a half sheet of blue metallic card stock for the base (Michael's). Then I took white lightweight cardstock and cut it 1/4" smaller than the blue on each side and stamped a Cala Lily(which was the bride's choice) in ballet blue in the center. I used a computer with a nice script font to generate the invitation and printed it on vellum, which I cut to match the size of the white cardstock. The vellum and white were attached together with a silver ribbon (JoAnn's) and then I used my xyron to attach these to the blue metallic.

Suggestions for those of you who are doing invites....decide on your envelope first!! In this case, the bride wanted the invitation in its own envelope, then have that inserted in the mailing envelope. I could not find internal/external envelope sets locally so I went online and placed the order. After you get the envelopes you can determine what size the actual invitation should be.

WOW - Wonderful News!!

We are soooo excited. The proofs for our first stamp set arrived today at the Flourishes Studio!! We were so thrilled that everything came to a standstill while we inked them up and tried them out. They look great so we placed our order with our manufacturer.

We're planning on issuing two sets for our initial offering and are working on the second set. Can't wait for the official unveiling and we're busy putting together some card samples with the new stamps, basic grey paper and May Arts ribbons.

Keep checking back at www.flourishes.org.

AND THE WINNER IS........KRISTINA LEWIS!!

Congrats to Kristina for her comments about our Flourishes online store.

Kristina, please e-mail me at nkirk@aol.com with your address and I will send the blog candy out tomorrow!!

Thanks to everyone for participating. We at Flourishes have been working with a wonderful web designer and soon we will be unveiling the new look for the on line store. We are also close to issuing our new stamp line - so check back with us from time to time.

Once the new web design is up, I'll be offering more blog candy - so keep in touch!!